[Dawn] Devastating rains have triggered floods in southern Pakistain, affecting at least 700,000 people and forcing 60,000 from their homes, officials said Wednesday. Nobody saw this coming, of course. It's not like they get monsoons every year...
Villages have been flooded and crops destroyed in Pakistain's Sindh province, one of the worst-hit areas in the unprecedented floods of 2010 that affected 21 million people and caused losses of $10 billion. "Unprecendented" means they've never happened before.
"At least 700,000 people have been affected by the floods caused by the recent rains in the six districts of Sindh province," Sajjad Haider Shah, an official in the provincial disaster management authority, told AFP. "Some 60,000 people have been rendered homeless, who have migrated to safer areas," Shah said, adding that 30 people had been killed in the past week.
Another senior government official confirmed the number of people affected. "Yeah. Dat's right. I seen it."
Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah told news hounds overnight that one million people had been affected, but provided no details. "I can say no more!"
Tens of thousands of people are still living in emergency camps after last year's floods and British charity Oxfam has accused Pakistain of failing to invest in prevention measures, making it vulnerable to further disaster. "We wuz gonna do it, but it started rainin'..."
The army and navy are using helicopters and boats to rescue people who are trapped by the fresh floodwaters, said Kazim Jatoi, the chief administrator in Badin district.
"The soldiers of the army and navy are relentlessly shifting people from the dangerous places to the safer areas," Jatoi said.
Pakistain's government came under enormous criticism last year from victims of the floods who said ministers did little to help.
Pakistain's largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, called for a comprehensive relief effort Wednesday to help those at risk.
"We are providing food and necessary items to the people to survive, but that is not much and more people and organizations will have to intervene in the situation," Edhi Foundation's Anwer Kazmi told AFP.
Jatoi said makeshift relief camps had been set up in 150 school buildings, but said there was an urgent need for tents and food.
"We are trying to provide every family a shelter, which requires a large number of tents."
Shah, the disaster management authority official, said crops had been destroyed and houses flooded.
"Badin is the most affected district, where more than half the total people have been displaced," he said.
Rains have also caused havoc in the districts of Tando Mohammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Thar, Umerkot and Tando Allahyar.
The meteorological office has forecast more rain in coming days.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The will of Allah.
Kinda dumb, isn't it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2011 17:56 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] General Solomon Mujuru, a former Zim-bob-wean military chief and guerrilla leader in the country's independence war, has died in a fire at one of his homes, Zim-bob-we's army commander said on Tuesday.
The cause of the fire was unclear, but police said Mujuru's body was "burned beyond recognition".
Mujuru, who was 62, headed Zim-bob-we's military for more than a decade after independence in 1980.
His widow, Joice Mujuru, is the country's vice president. Her supporters are vying for supremacy within their party should Mugabe die or retire.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has been plagued by disputes over who will succeed him. Mujuru's wife leads a powerful faction in Mugabe's party.
In the past, Mugabe has favoured Joice Mujuru, 56, to succeed him, making her his first vice president above his veteran colleague, John Nkomo, 77, his second vice president .
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... she counted on the support of her husband, who still commanded loyalty in the military for his role in helping sweep Mugabe into power at independence. Her husband's power base was seen as the foundation of her political fortunes. ... so now her power base has been incinerated...
After his retirement, Mujuru acquired an empire of farms, properties, mines and other interests that made him one of wealthiest and most influential figures in the top echelons of Mugabe's party and its policymaking politburo.
"His death leaves the party in a shambles. He was holding it together and we will now see more infighting," said John Makumbe, a political scientist at Zim-bob-we's main university.
"I don't think [Joice Mujuri] will be able to do it alone," said Makumbe.
Simon Khaya Moyo, the fourth ranking official in Mugabe's party, said Mujuru had long fought for unity in Zim-bob-we.
"He was the glue to our future," he said. "None of us would have the audacity to betray him."
Mugabe has yet to comment on Mujuru's death.
Makumbe, the political scientist, said the fire raised rumours of foul play ahead of an official statement. He said Mujuru was "a man of few words who was respected" among the younger political and military hierarchy.
Mujuru was known to have had sharp disagreements with political colleagues over Mugabe's possible retirement.
He wanted to make way for younger leaders he favoured, earning him rebukes from Mugabe hardliners, Makumbe said.
Mugabe has acknowledged deep divisions in his party and has said he cannot leave office until he has resolved them and unified the party ahead of elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Mugabe has acknowledged deep divisions in his party and has said he cannot leave office until he has resolved them and unified the party ahead of elections.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Malawian police tightened security in main cities on Wednesday in case of anti-government protests even though organisers had a day earlier postponed the vigils after deadly riots last month.
Several shops and banks also did not open for business in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu -- the three main towns affected by last month's security force crackdown on protesters which killed 19 people, police said.
President Bingu wa Mutharika is facing growing anger over chronic fuel and foreign exchange shortages and is also accused of infringing on democratic freedoms in the impoverished southern African country.
"We have intensified our security. There is a police officer at every corner of the streets," Davie Chingwalu, police front man for the south, told AFP.
"We want to protect property for those thugs who may want to take advantage of the situation to loot."
Police had also tightened security in Lilongwe, the scene of heavy looting and arson on July 20, said John Namalenga, police front man for the central region.
"But most shops and banks are closed, fearful of looting," he said.
In the northern city of Mzuzu, where police shot eight people dead in last month's unrest, police front man Edward Longwe said business was normal although some shops and banks had not opened.
Rights groups on Tuesday called off anti-government vigils that were planned for Wednesday to demand action on their concerns over economic and democratic governance.
They postponed the demonstrations after Mutharika loyalists obtained a court injunction.
Government representatives and civil society leaders held talks under the mediation of the United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... office and agreed Tuesday that an opposition vigil should be allowed to go ahead within four weeks, a statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Ugandan police fired water cannons, tear gas and pink dye at opposition leaders and their supporters Wednesday to break up a rally in memory of 10 people killed in a crackdown on protests in April.
They later allowed the rally to go ahead in a different part of the capital, where opposition politicians addressed several hundred people as they remembered those killed in the "walk-to-work" protests over living costs.
"We had a rally to remember the people who died during the walk-to-work protests, and also about the current economic situation in the country," opposition politician Nandala Mafabi told AFP.
Police said they dispersed the earlier gathering after opposition politicians broke an agreement over its location.
"This was in breech of an agreement that we had come to, not to hold the meeting in a place that is small and not in the middle of businesses," police front man Ibin Ssenkumbi said.
Hundreds of people joined the April protests by walking to work in the mornings, leading to a brutal police crackdown in which at least 10 people were killed.
Opposition politicians vowed this month to resume their protest campaign against rising food and fuel costs.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Police in London said Wednesday they have charged more than 1,000 people over rioting in the British capital last week, but warned of more to come as officers' trawl through 20,000 hours of CCTV footage.
A total of 1,005 people have been charged with various offences out of the 1,733 placed in durance vile in London so far, although nationwide some 1,179 people had been brought before the courts by Monday afternoon.
"This is a significant milestone but the investigation is far from over," said Tim Godwin, the acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
About 500 officers from Scotland Yard are working on the riots, he said, adding: "Our tireless investigations to find those responsible for last week's appalling violence continue.
"Officers across the Met are carrying out great police work, day and night, to gather the kind of evidence which has led to these charges."
The majority of those placed in durance vile were jugged in the days after the riots, which began following the police shooting of a local man in Tottenham, north London, and spread across several English cities over four nights.
Many suspects were identified by members of the public, including their own families, after police published CCTV footage of shops being ransacked in London, Manchester, Birmingham and other towns.
About 125 police spent the weekend examining CCTV footage, Scotland Yard said, while images of suspects posted on photo-sharing website Flickr have been viewed 7.8 million times.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said the high number of arrests was down to the hard work of police and "the outstanding support they have had from law abiding Londoners who will not tolerate this behavior in their communities".
By Monday afternoon, 115 people had been convicted over the riots across England and Wales, of whom at least 26 were under the age of 18, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Venezuela plans to transfer billions of dollars in cash reserves from abroad to banks in Russia, China and Brazil and tons of gold from European banks to its central bank vaults, according to documents reviewed Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal.
The planned moves would include transferring $6.3 billion in cash reserves, most of which Venezuela now keeps in banks such as the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, and Barclays Bank in London to unnamed Russian, Chinese and Brazilian banks, one document said.
Venezuela also plans to move 211 tons of gold it keeps abroad and values at $11 billion to the vaults of the Venezuelan Central Bank in Caracas where the government keeps its remaining 154 tons of bullion, the document says.
Venezuelan officials were tight-lipped. Representatives of the ministry of finance and the central bank said there was no official comment, and no one was authorized to address the issue.
Lately, senior Venezuelan officials have criticized Venezuela's dependence on the dollar. Last Saturday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the world's financial system, based on the dollar, "had entered into a crisis of uncertainty and we are planning to construct a new international monetary system, and especially in South America, protect ourselves from this situation," he said.
The Bank of England recently received a request from the Venezuelan government about transferring the 99 tons of gold Venezuela holds in the bank back to Venezuela, said a person familiar with the matter. A spokesman from the Bank of England declined to comment whether Venezuela had any gold on deposit at the bank.
#1
Hugo (or some subordinates) getting ready to 'cash out'?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/18/2011 8:53 Comments ||
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#2
Mullah Richard -
JUST what I was thinking.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/18/2011 10:15 Comments ||
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#3
Or else some sort of paranoid preparation in advance of some misbehavior which might provoke the freezing of accounts? Like a coup in the wake of an expected and sudden expiration of Chavez?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/18/2011 12:23 Comments ||
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#4
Mitch H Hello!. Yes that sounds possible. If he is terminal and he knows it plus he just got back from Cuba makes you think. He owes Russia and China big time for all the procurements. I have always understood that there is some degree of shock to deal with in any serious injury. He may not be thinking clearly. Paranoia perhaps. The meds may work on the mind as well. I doubt his staff will question his mental state face to face.
#5
Good point about the potential 'misbehavior(s)' that 'Ugo may be concerned about in his expected passing, Mitch. Might want to pay off the creditors as Dale states (although as to why is the question if he'd be gone - can't believe he is that honorable).
It may not be him ordering these transfers, which says something else entirely.
I'll be curious to see what the next few weeks bring.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/18/2011 13:48 Comments ||
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#6
...how about...
Hugo's time is short. There is no clear successor. That in the coming power struggle, info leaks that compromises the entire upper echelon with being deep in dodo with FARC. The Colombians are mad enough to seek retribution [re: invade/occupy] or massive compensation. There is no 'good' cop whose around to provide enough force to protect you. What would you do with your ill gotten gains?
Move to Russia, China or Brazil carrying as much as you can with you?
Some call it 'cashing out'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/18/2011 16:20 Comments ||
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#8
Hugo is watching what's happening to Gaddafi who was engaged with the West only to find all his wealth frozen and transferred to the "rebels" The central factor is the oil discovery in the Orinoco belt region which appears to have reserves twice as large as the Soddies.Hugo is moving as fast as he can to nationalise the oil field, hence the need to protect against legal challenge by the existing lease holders. The US has shamelessly protected Soddie interests for the last 60 years and the Soddies have adopted a faux Western stance. China and Russia are moving into the vacuum created by all this manoeuvring.
#9
tipper that is interesting.They are finding oil everywhere. Last year they found a record amount around the world. The thing I don't understand is they have been pumping oil now out of Saudi Arabia for how long and their estimated reserves only increase year by year.
#10
The cash is being moved to Russian and Chinee to ensure that their accounts receivable will be safe. The gold is being moved to the central bank to avoid seizure in judgement of their various and sundry nationalization arbitration cases.
Posted by: S ||
08/18/2011 17:05 Comments ||
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#11
Dale, Don't believe any reserve numbers generated by KSA. I don't know what their reserves are, but they've been overstated for years (IMNSHO.)
(Xinhua) -- Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden arrived in Beijing Wednesday evening, kicking off his six-day official visit to China.
Biden is making the visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Shortly after his arrival, Biden attended a friendly men's basketball game between China's Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons and the United States' Georgetown University Hoyas held in a stadium inside the National Olympic Sports Center.
During his visit, Biden will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao ...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a Harmonious Society approach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot... , top politician Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao ...Wen has a professional background in geology and engineering. Unlike most American politicians, he actually knows things. ... . Vice President Xi Jinping will hold talks with him and accompany him on a visit to southwestern China's Sichuan Province.
Biden's tour of China will be the first of the planned reciprocal visits between the vice presidents announced during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the United States in January, the White House said earlier.
Leaders of China and the United States will consult on a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
what a representative. no wonder china think we're all putzes
Would all those that bet the 390K figure would be revised upward step forward to collect your winnings please?
In the week ending August 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 408,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 399,000. The 4-week moving average was 402,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 406,000.
The German economy has been one of the few bright spots in the global economy over the last few years. To be sure, it's not very bright . . . more like a night light than a shining beacon. But in the long darkness that seems to have settled over the rest of the developed world, that low-wattage glimmer of hope shines like the top of the Empire State Building.
Or perhaps I should say shone. New data seems to show that our little bright spot may be flickering out
#2
AEP commented in the Telegraph, regarding Germany & the Euros: There are no innocents in this story. All countries share blame. Germany is a sinner in all kinds of ways, not least because it seems to think it can lock in a permanent structural trade surplus, and then order others to stop running deficits.
Hmm. Sounds like another country much in the news lately.
#3
A different commentator in the Telegraph: Yet it doesnt take a degree in economics to figure out that if everyone is scrimping and saving, there wont be any demand in the economy. Not everyone can be a surplus nation, yet this logical impossibility is what German policy seems to be trying to create.
#4
This is very bad news "huge problem for the eurozone". Stocks will tumble everywhere and precious metals to the moon Alice. They have already increased efficiencies. Contractions in order with increased frequency and duration. Distracted with internal events they will be less able to carry euro zone. Delivery will hopefully go well but could be ugly. They may have to spank it to see which end cries to find its mouth.
#9
Yes Anonymoose all are. Some differences. Here its negative news, in Europe its Banks, in Asia except Australia it's diminished growth expectations. I don't see a one world order with all the goings on now.
The Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military "registered" Democrat
or are primarily responsible for other family members' care.
#1
So if there exists any document pertaining to this that has Obama's signature on it, doesn't that make it an impeachable offense in that he is violating the oath of office? ( Yeah he may have been skirting the line before on other topics, but wouldn't this be pretty black and white?)
[Dawn] Caliphornia-based rocket maker SpaceX said Monday that it will make a test flight in late November to the International Space Station, now that NASA has retired its space shuttle program.
"SpaceX has been hard at work preparing for our next flight -- a mission designed to demonstrate that a privately-developed space transportation system can deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS)," the company, also called Space Exploration Technologies, said in a statement.
The mission is the second to be carried out by SpaceX, one of a handful of firms competing to make a spaceship to replace the now-defunct US shuttle, which had been used to carry supplies and equipment to the orbiting outpost.
"NASA has given us a November 30, 2011 launch date, which should be followed nine days later by Dragon berthing at the ISS," the company said.
It said the arrival of the vessel at the space station would herald "the beginning of a new era in space travel."
Together, government and the private sector can simultaneously increase the reliability, safety and frequency of space travel, while greatly reducing the costs," SpaceX said.
The company won dollar 75 million in new seed money earlier this year, after it became the first to successfully send its own space capsule, the gumdrop-shaped Dragon, into orbit and back in December 2010.
The shuttle Atlantis completed its final journey to the ISS and back last month, ending the 30-year-old US space shuttle program.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Awesome. So Soyuz will not be the only way off this rock. Sad to see the shuttle go, but once it proved the principle, STS was just another Amtrak. At least one sector of the economy is being forced to decentralize and privatize - we'll get a lot farther, a lot faster that way.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Devastating rains have triggered floods in southern Pakistain, affecting at least 700,000 people and forcing 60,000 from their homes, officials said Wednesday.
[Al Jazeera] General Solomon Mujuru, a former Zim-bob-wean military chief and guerrilla leader in the country's independence war, has died in a fire at one of his homes, Zim-bob-we's army commander said on Tuesday.
[An Nahar] Police in London said Wednesday they have charged more than 1,000 people over rioting in the British capital last week, but warned of more to come as officers' trawl through 20,000 hours of CCTV footage.
(Xinhua) -- Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden arrived in Beijing Wednesday evening, kicking off his six-day official visit to China.
[Dawn] 
